Dealing with Disasters
by whereinthewrld
Summary: A short from my Choices verse. Concussions are a part of hunting life, but you never really get used to them. Especially when you get one doing something as stupid as playing soccer. Besides, the only person you can't really count on in a time of need, is yourself...


**So I haven't abandoned this story; in fact I have the next two chapters written and I'm working on a third. There's no real reason why I haven't updated sooner, just know this: Some people will tell you that when you go to college you'll have a ton of free time. These people are lairs.**

* * *

"I don't know where to go, can't do it alone, I've tried and I don't know why.

I'm just a little girl lost in the moment, I'm so scared but I don't show it.

I can't figure it out, it's bringing me down, I know I've got to let it go and just enjoy the show."

-Lyrics _The Show_

"Noel!" A sharp, angry voice cut through the atmosphere around the soccer bench. Addy's green eyes shot up to meet her coach's brown ones. Andrea, her soccer coach, pointed at the little red head before jabbing a finger at their goal. "Nichole's slacking and I don't want to see another point on that score board, understand?"

_Holyfreakingcrap! _Was she actually going to get to play? Sure, she wasn't exactly _bad_ at soccer, but she was only a freshman! "Y-y-yeah!" Addy stammered as she stood up and grabbed the goalie's jersey off the grass. Her hands shook as she slipped on the blue and white shirt. It was now or never; she either proved herself or she'd be stuck on the bench for the rest of the season. Not that there would be much to prove, there was only ten minutes left in the game. At least that's what Addy reminded herself as a whistle blue, the refs hand shot up for subs and she jogged towards the goal.

"Coach said you needed a break," Addy swallowed as she looked up to meet Nichole's gaze. It was almost a joke, the five foot nothing freshman going in for the almost six foot tall junior.

"Good luck," The brunette huffed as she walked off towards the side lines. She didn't even have the decency to get off the field before the ref blew his whistle to start the play again.

Luckily for Addy the ball was still on the other side of the field. Not that it would stay that way for long. They were currently losing four to nothing, though that wasn't surprising. Lexington has a reputation for being one of the worst soccer teams in the state! The school's reputation was more for academics; the debate team was nationally ranked, same with the Science Olympiad team, and a couple of other weird ass academic teams. The school had hoped to change their sport's ranking by hiring a former US soccer Olympian as the lead coach, but it wasn't going so well for anyone. The only thing the team sucked at worse than soccer, was communicating with each other. And really, how good could a team even be if they couldn't even talk to each other?

There was another whistle, this time for a free kick. Addy watched in annoyance as her team, dressed in white jerseys with blue numbers, failed to block any of St Agnes' red players. It was a shit shop, an impressive display of exactly what _not _to do while playing an organized sport.

"Mark up!" Her voice carried long and hard across the green soccer friend; mush to Addy's surprise, before the other team could take the kick, two of Lexington's players moved to cover two open offensive players. _Maybe all they really needed was to be reminded_…Addy thought as she wiped a bead of sweat away from her eyes. It was one of those annoyingly hot September days that seemed to come out of nowhere. At least by the time the season was over, the leaves would be turning their traditional red, orange and gold color normally associated with a New England fall. This was one reason Addy loved the north so much, all of the seasons. The gaudiness of the fall, the puritanical winters, the rebirth that occurred in spring, and the fresh air of the summer.

Until then, Addy would have to suffer through this preseason torture. The game didn't even technically _count _for anything. It was just a firgging scrimmage set up by Coach Andrea in the hope that other teams would see how much better Lexington's had gotten. And they had gotten better. By this point in the game last year they would have been down by at least ten points.

Either way, Addy realized as she watched the offender, number Seventeen, finally break through the clusterfuck of Lexington girls, they had a long way to go this season.

"You got this Adds, you got this," She whispered herself as she lowered her legs into the horse stance Uncle John had made her practice over, and over, and ooooover again until she had finally masterd it. "Just like dealing with a poltergeist. You make them think they've got the heads up until they're close enough to hit."

As her team struggled to recover from the break away, Addy moved. She had always been a fast runner, could even out run her dad and brother some times, but this girl clearly hadn't been expecting the sudden burst of speed that came out of the small red-head. Number Seventeen was only twenty feet away from the goal now, any closer and she would have a perfect shot. Addy wouldn't have that, she convinced herself as she speed towards the brunette in the Seventeen jersey. With only five feet left between her and the girl, Addy slid; her arms wrapped themselves around the ball as the confused offender, who was still running forward, tripped over Addy and performed an epic summersault onto the ground!

There was a scream, an angry, shriek that Seventeen directed at Addy. No one had expected her to do that, Addy realized as she stood up, ball in her gloved hands. Another whistle blew, this time for the ref to call a time out; he jogged past the rest of the players until he stood halfway between Addy and Seventeen.

"Well?" Seventeen demanded as she stood up and brushed off her grass stained knees. "Aren't you going to card the bitch?"

The referee raised an eye brow at Seventeen before looking at Addy, who just shrugged. She wasn't going to tell him what to do. Instead of looking back at Seventeen, the ref just blew his whistle and raised a plastic yellow rectangle in the air.

_Oh, great_… Addy thought as she felt her heart sink. _Less than ten minutes on the field for the first time and you've all ready managed to get carded!"_

"Number seventeen," The official began as he looked over to the book and time keeper. "Unnecessary language."

The corner of Addy's mouth twitched upward into a smile as Seventeen stalked forward to the official. "Are you kidding me?" She growled. "She slide tackled me!"

"Do you want me to card you again? Or do you want to remember that nothing she did was against the rules?" The ref gave Seventeen one more calm, collected look as he waited for his answer.

But he never got one. Instead Seventeen just turned around and joggled back to her teammates.

"All right, corner kick on my whistle," The ref told Addy as he picked up the plastic whistle from around his neck and put it into his mouth.

Addy took a deep breath before rolling the ball over to her teammate who all ready stood on the corner. Maybe the communication was starting to click into place, after all.

The whistle sounded as Addy back peddled to the center of the goal. Her horse stance was set as Cathy, Lexington's best midfielder, kicked the ball into the sea of blue and red players. The mess of people scattered, and Addy did her best to watch as two red players, Seventeen and some other chick, positioned themselves at the head of the goalie box.

Cathy ran forward to try to get the ball out from number Twenty-five; but no one was bothering to look at the people around them. Was that too hard of a concept? Look at your surroundings? How were these people still alive! They were lucky that they hadn't been shot, stabbed or even killed!

When someone finally noticed the small circle of blue Lexington players fighting for position of the ball with each other, it was an open red St Agnes player. A red player proceed to run over and kick the ball high enough so it rolled toward the end of the goalie box. Addy was ready for it because, unlike everyone else on her team, she had been brought up to observe her surroundings. To learn what was going on around her and her family. There had to be only a minute or so left… The pressure was on.

Or maybe unlucky for her, Addy realized as she went for another slide tackle. This time Seventeen was ready, this time she wasn't going to summersault over Addy. Instead she took a step backwards and let Addy tackle the ball; she didn't even put up a fight. By the time Addy realized why, a giant, black cleat had already kicked her face twice. Addy could feel something dripping down her face, and she couldn't help but wonder if it was blood or sweat?

When the ref had finally let out three short huffs from his whistle, indicating the end of the game,

Cathy and Emma, the right forward, managed to drag Seventeen away from Addy.

_There's was a lotta yellin' goin' on_… Addy thought as she forced herself to her feet.

Everything was just so gosh darn twirly. And swirly. No one was walking straight… Not to mention all that stupid sweat was starting to drip down onto her shirt. And her face hurt. Why'd her face hurt?

Oh yeah, that jerkbuttermucher had kicked her there. Jerkbuttmuncher? What the heck was wrong with her? Addy thought for a moment. A kick to the face, maybe she had a, a… She concentrated harder, only to realize that the harder she thought, the more everything seemed to slip away. She couldn't even remember the word for whatever the heck it was!

"Addy!" Cathy ran over to Addy before she stuck her face two inches away. "Oh my god! Are

you okay?"

The grass was really pretty; she liked it when they cut it this short. It just looked all kinds of weird and fake but it wasn't. Had Cathy said something?

"What?" Addy asked as she looked up into the older girl's face. Three other people were running over to her, Riley, her coach and the school's trainer. Why the trainer? They didn't need to be rained right now. "You have reeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaally pretty eyes Cath," muttered Addy. "I wish I had blue eyes."

"Jesus," Cathy swore before grabbing Addy's eyes and forcing her to look up. "How hard did she kick you!?"

"Whatchatalkingabout?" She shook her head out of Cathy's hand as a pang shot through her skull.

"Addy!" Riley yelled as she ran over to Addy. She had been watching the game and saw Addy go down. She hadn't realized how bad the injury was until the trainer had starting running towards her friend."Holy blood batman!"

"There's no blood, I don't feel anythin'," She shook her head and there was that stupid pain again. Now there was her coach too, who was staring at Addy like she had an extra head or somethin'. The stupid trainer person looked the same way. "What?"

"I'm going to need you to put down the soccer ball Addy, okay?" Coach Andrea reached over and pulled the soccer ball away from Addy.

"But I'm using it!" She protested before the trainer's really annoying face was an inch from hers.

"Put this against the cut on your face," Andrea ordered before handing her a dirty looking grey cloth.

"What cut?" Asked Addy as she looked down at the cloth. It looked like one of those dishcloth thingamagiggers. Her sister used to use them to wash off the dishes when they were staying in hotel rooms for a long time. Cody just used paper towels.

Riley let out an annoyed huff before grabbing Addy's hand and forcing her to press the cloth against her face.

"My face feels funny," Addy told her best friend as she pulled the cloth away from the cut. She looked down at it saw was all covered in weird red stuff. "Why's it all weird?"

"Because you're face is cut open and it's gushing blood!" Snapped Riley as she put the cloth against the cut again.

"We should go get Chinese food. Riley," Addy nodded as the trainer stuck a stupid freaking flash-light in her face. "Don't do that! It's rude!"

"She definitely has a concussion," The trainer sighed before looking over at Andrea. "It looks like a bad one; I've seen a few of these in my time. We have to take her to the hospital."

"Looks like the only thing you get Adds is a trip to the ER…" Riley muttered.

"No, no, I don't need that, I need Chinese food," Addy tried to explain as the trainer (what was his name again? Gus? Gary? Addy couldn't remember…) reached into his black bag and pulled out an ice bag. Where had that thingy come from?

"I'll go call her family," Andrea sighed and started sorting through numbers in her cell phone. "Don't take her anyway, Riley! Not until we've at least _called _her brother." She turned around and started walking towards the bench.

"Keep this pressed against your head, fifteen on, fifteen off," The trainer handed over the ice pack to Addy's free hand. He flashed her a small smile before walking back towards the bench.

"Fifteen what?" Addy asked before she turned around and looked at her friend. They were still standing on the soccer field; it felt like they were a freak circus act everyone was watching."Seconds or minutes?"

"Oh my Cybele," Riley muttered before taking a deep breath. "Minutes, Adds. Put the ice pack against your head. I'm going to drive you to the ER, okay? We both know your jerk of a brother isn't going to pick up his phone."

"Andrea said not to go anywhere!" Addy whined. Her head hurt and everyone was acting so weird! Where was everyone anyway? Didn't she have to finish playing the game?

"Yeah, well, she's going to have to write up an incident report, talk to the ref, get in contact with your brother… All that stuff. You, my darling friend, seriously need to get that face checked out if you don't want it to scar. Otherwise you might get to star in your own hunting story." Riley grabbed Addy's elbow helped her up, and began steering her away from the edge of the soccer field.

"Wait, wait, wait," Addy jerked to a stop. "Did we win?"

"As if!" Riley snorted as she pulled a little harder against her elbow. "But she didn't get the goal in, if that helps."

"Oh, okay," with a sigh Addy kept walking with her friend. "Are we going home now?"

Riley just clenched her eyes shut before walking towards the bleachers to get her bag. "I'm so glad you're not usually like this."

There were a couple people still standing around the bench, Addy noticed as they approached. "Hey, Riley, I think there's blood on my shirt," Addy said as the finally stopped walking.

"Hey," Sighed Riley as she looked over at Brice, her boyfriend, and Ryan, his best friend. "She's really out of it, and I'm going to take her to the hospital."

"I'd offer to give you a ride but my brother rear ended someone this weekend," Brice flashed Riley and Addy an apologetic smile. He was nice; Addy like that he was nice to everyone, not just Riley. It meant he wasn't a jerk. Addy didn't like jerks.

"It's okay; but we definitely need to get her some help. Like I said, she's really out of it." Riley rolled her eyes as Addy started talking again.

"Who's out of it?" Addy asked as she looked over Brice's friend. She had only met Ryan a couple times before, but she really, really liked him. "You're cute."

"See?" Riley huffed as she looked over at the two boys. "She needs to get checked out."

"I can give you a ride," Ryan offered. The last thing he wanted was the two of them taking a taxi to the hospital.

"Yeah, if you could give us one that would be great," nodded Riley. Gosh this was going to be a long night. Thank the goddess Addy was medically emancipated; otherwise they would literally be there all night. At least that dead-beat of a brother of hers had made a good decision or two before abandoning her.

"I like him." Maybe it was because Addy was so far gone at this point, or maybe it was something else; but either way, when Addy realized she might have talked out loud, the only person who looked embarrassed was Riley. Ryan, on the other hand, just flashed Addy a bright toothy smile. He was so tall; she liked that, it reminded her of her dad, uncle and brother. Addy was the short one in her family and it stuuuuuuuuuuunk. "I wish I was taller."

"And now he knows you like him," Pointed out Riley as she ran a hand through her blonde hair.

"Noooope!" Snapped Addy as Ryan laughed and started walking towards the parking lot. He motioned for the girls to follow him.

"I'd ask you to come, but…" Riley shrugged up at her boyfriend. They did their kissy-face thing which usually made Addy want to puke; but, right now she was finding the color of the sky really interesting.

"Ooh… Look. Clouds. I like clouds."

"You guys have fun in the ER; text me later and let me know how it goes," Brice eyed Addy worriedly.

"Will do," Riley promised as she grabbed Addy's elbow and started steering her down the sidewalk towards the student parking lot.

"I want a dog," Addy concluded with a nod. The ice pack wasn't so icy anymore; but it didn't really do its job. Her head still hurt. And the cloth was getting drippy. "That way when people ask 'what's up dawg' I can say 'I dunno, but he does'! Wouldn't that be funny?"

"Right," The only other response Addy got was an eye role. "Ya know, for someone who grew up as a hu…" Addy stopped herself before she let the secret out. "With your family, you'd think you'd be able to handle a concussion better!"

"Whateverrrrrrrrrrrrrr," Addy growled. Riles could say whatever she wanted, it couldn't bring her down. Even though she didn't think it would happen, she'd gotten to play in her first game, she'd stopped a goal, and she'd proven she could handle being a goalie. And a really cute guy had smiled at her! Even if her head and face hurt, it didn't really matter.

Besides, she was a Campbell. She specialized in defeating the impossible.


End file.
